Keyboard Navigation Tips For Excel & Word

Navigating around an Excel spreadsheet with a mouse can be awkward at times. Instead of scrolling with the mouse you can use the keyboard. CTRL + DOWN ARROW will get you to the bottom of the section of data you are working on. You can also use CTRL + UP ARROW, CTRL + RIGHT ARROW and CTRL + LEFT ARROW to navigate around sections of data. For example, if you wanted to navigate to the bottom right of your data, you would click CTRL + DOWN ARROW (to get to the bottom) and then CTRL + RIGHT ARROW (to get to the far right).

To select and highlight groups of data, you can utilize the SHIFT key after the CTRL key to begin highlighting. Try CTRL + SHIFT + DOWN ARROW, then CTRL + SHIFT + RIGHT ARROW and you will navigate and select at the same time. Practice and you will see how effortless it will become to navigate around your Excel spreadsheet.

Highlighting Columns & Rows

From any point in an Excel sheet you can select the entire row or column. Shift + Spacebar will select the entire row and CTRL + Spacebar will select the entire column. These commands are very handy when making format changes to an entire row or column.

Word Navigation

The above-mentioned techniques work slightly different in Word. CTRL + RIGHT ARROW and CTRL + LEFT ARROW will move the cursor to the end or beginning or each consecutive word.

CTRL + SHIFT with an ARROW key also selects text in Word. CTRL + DOWN ARROW will take you to the beginning of the next paragraph, and CTRL + UP ARROW will take you to the top of the existing paragraph.

Practice these tips in various Microsoft Office applications and see how proficient you can become at navigating through documents.